Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Libya’s quest to use the River Nile water for development in the desert country has been rejected by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) member states, a senior official said. The New Vision learnt that the formal request by the Libyan president, Qadhafi, was rejected by the ministers from the ten countries supplied by the River Nile. They are Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and Uganda. The revelation came during a meeting at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe. “Libya put forward an appeal to join NBI so as to benefit from the Nile waters, but the water ministers from the Nile basin saw no merit in Libya joining,” said Gordon Mumbo, the NBI programme manager. [New Vision]
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Libya's ties with America are improving but some issues still block full normalization despite the release of the medics in a move long sought by the West, Qadhafi's influential son said on Monday. In a Reuters interview, Saif al-Islam, a key mediator on the medics' case, added a deal with the European Union (EU) for their release cleared the way to full normalization with the 25-nation bloc.
He said he believed false Libyan conspiracy theories about an Israeli or Western role in the infection of hundreds of children with the AIDS virus had helped prolong the case. "With the EU, yes I think we abolished the last obstacle in order to have a fully normal relationship," Saif al-Islam said, speaking on a visit to France. "With the Americans of course it's better, and it's getting better and better, but we still have issues." [Reuters]
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Libya is confident it will be exonerated of any role in the Lockerbie bombing and has made the release of its jailed agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi its top priority, one of the country's leading officials said yesterday. Saif al-Islam, the most influential son of Libyan leader Qadhafi, said Megrahi's return was more important than reclaiming the £1.35bn Libya agreed to pay in compensation for the terrorist atrocity. However, it was unclear last night whether al-Islam was referring to the alleged negotiations on prisoner transfer between Britain and Libya before Tony Blair's exit as Prime Minister. In an interview conducted with Reuters during a visit to France, Saif al-Islam said: "The top of our priority is the return of al Megrahi and not the return of the money because I think he is more important than the money." [The Herald]
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Libya is the only country that has no agreement for association with EU. This is something we should be sorry about. We have this big emigration flux, coming from Libya. This is important because we open new page, EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. Benghazi fund received money from Libyan side - 461 million EUR. After the medics returned in Europe, we will look for new more voluntary way to gather the money. Governmental and nongovernmental donors, but always should be voluntary, added Waldner. You have my word that while we were negotiating we haven't talk about petrol, said the EU Commissioner. [News.bg]
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Bulgaria's intelligence chief said Monday that security services from about 20 countries worked to help free six foreign medics from life imprisonment in Libya. The fate of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian-born doctor was nothing more than "a grain of sand in the eye of an enormous hurricane bringing together major interests" in Libya, including arms sales and oil concessions, General Kirtcho Kirov told the 24-Tchassa daily. He said a former top official at the British overseas intelligence service MI6, Mark Allan, put the Libyan and Bulgarian intelligence chiefs in contact. Kirov met the former head of Libyan intelligence Moussa Koussa five times in Libya, Rome, Paris and London, and continued talks with his successor Abdallah Sanoussi, the brother-in-law of Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. [AFP]
Tuesday, 31 July, 2007:
Libya plans an enhanced oil recovery round to develop its production capacity, Qadhafi's son Saif al-islam said on Monday. "We are now ready to launch ...another round for enhanced recovery also -- that's a new one," he told Reuters. Asked when he expected the round to be officially announced, he replied: "In the next month, or two months." [Reuters]

Monday, 30 July, 2007:
Germany's Environment Ministry and opposition Greens party have warned Siemens not to take part in a French nuclear deal with Libya, Handelsblatt reported. French President Sarkozy signed a memorandum of understanding for a nuclear energy deal with Libya during a visit last week. France's Areva has been tipped to supply a nuclear reactor to Libya to supply drinking water from sea water and some Germans are worried that Siemens will get involved due to its 34 percent stake in a nuclear power joint venture with Areva. "We must know what Siemens says about this unethical business," Michael Mueller, a Social Democrat secretary at the Environment Ministry told Monday's edition of Handelsblatt. [Reuters]
Monday, 30 July, 2007:
Libya has given details about the deal that led to the release of six foreign medics found guilty of deliberately infecting 438 children with HIV/Aids. It said backing for a fund for the victims had come mainly from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Qatar. Libya's prime minister has condemned Bulgaria for pardoning the medics - who always protested their innocence - as soon as they arrived in the country. The six were freed last week after Libya reached a deal with the EU. He said France had promised to provide equipment for the Benghazi hospital, where the infections took place, and provide training for Libyan medical staff. The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says that as part of the deal the EU is set to significantly ease restrictions on visas for citizens, which could see Libyans obtain them within 48 hours. [SAM/BBC]

Sunday, 29 July, 2007:
Libyan officials have again criticised Bulgaria's decision to pardon six health workers, sentenced to life jail terms. Officials discussed cutting off relations with Bulgaria on Saturday, in response to a request from a representative of the families of the infected Libyan children. Idris Agah, a representative for the Libyan children, told reporters: "The presidential pardon was a shock to the families of the children. That's why we issued a formal statement and we asked Interpol to bring back the nurses and serve their sentences in Libya." We requested Libya cut all relations with Bulgaria immediately and to stop dealing with the Bulgarian companies that are working in Libya and deport all the Bulgarian workers in Libya," he said. [Al-Jazeera]
Sunday, 29 July, 2007:
Five nurses and a doctor freed last week after eight years in Libyan captivity were held in a remote area where no one could hear their screams as they were tortured. In his first newspaper interview since his release, the doctor, Ashraf al-Hazouz, described the "hell" of being held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell barely long enough for him to lie down. He said his captors sexually assaulted the nurses and injected them all with what they were told was the HIV virus. Speaking from the Bulgarian presidential residence in Sofia, where he and the nurses are currently staying, Dr al-Hazouz said: "The past eight years have been one big nightmare. We were tortured during the police investigation for over 10 months. It was hell we went through. They would strip us naked and torture us with electric shocks. They would attach the electrodes to my genitals. I saw some of the nurses being sexually assaulted." [Telegraph]
Sunday, 29 July, 2007:
The British secretary of state for foreign affairs, Kim Howells said Libya plays a "great role" of stability in the Mediterranean region and on the African continent as well. The British diplomat added in a statement to the press in Tripoli on Thursday night: "We are enthusiastic to develop our relations with Libya." Howells also lauded the bilateral relations between the Libyan government and Great Britain, and stressed his country's readiness to promote them in the economic, educational, health and oil areas. He assured current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's determination to continue the action started by his predecessor, Tony Blair, for the consolidation of the relations between London and Tripoli. [PANA]
Sunday, 29 July, 2007:
Libya on Saturday denounced a decision by Bulgaria's president to pardon six medics from life jail terms in an AIDS case as a "betrayal" and illegal. "The detainees should have been detained upon their arrival (in Sofia), and not freed in this celebratory and illegal manner," Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham told a news conference in Tripoli. Bulgaria's actions "violated the legal procedures regarding extradition, as set down under international law and in the agreement on judicial cooperation signed between the two countries" in 1984, Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi told the same gathering. "We followed the procedure -- it is Bulgaria that betrayed us," Mahmudi said. [AFP]

Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
A $460 million Libyan loan that helped win freedom for six medics is due to be repaid as and when donors make resources available, The Benghazi International Fund (BIF) said. The BIF said that it had made a payment of $460 million to the children's families, a move Libya says was compensation that made possible a government decision to commute death sentences on the medics to jail terms. The BIF, echoing statements by Libyan government officials, said in a statement that the settlement had been financed by a loan it had received from a Libyan official fund called the Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF). [Reuters]
Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
Bulgaria on Thursday rejected Libyan protests over the presidential pardons it gave six medics freed earlier this week from life imprisonment in Libya. "There are no legal problems with the status of the medics that returned from Libya," Prosecutor General Boris Velchev told the state news agency BTA. Libya had accused the six of deliberately infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV; 50 of the children died. The nurses, jailed since 1999, were initially sentenced to death, but later had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment. [AP]
Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
German leaders have attacked French President Sarkozy over a deal to provide Libya with a nuclear reactor. Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said "politically this business is problematic" ... "German interests are directly affected". He told the German business daily Handelsblatt that the French and German governments should discuss the matter. Germany's Siemens has a 34% stake in a subsidiary of French atomic firm Areva. Sarkozy clinched the deal on his visit to Tripoli, during which he held talks with Qadhafi. [BBC]
Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
Bulgaria's Ambassador in Tripoli Alexander Olshevski said Libya's Foreign Ministry had issued an official complaint, claiming Bulgaria had violated bilateral agreements by pardoning the six medics accused of infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. "After returning to Bulgaria, the medics began to carry out the sentences imposed in Libya according to the Bulgarian law. This allows the president to pardon them and he took advantage of this right," Olshevski said. He added that Bulgaria respected Libyan laws, and called on Libya to act the same way. Families of the HIV-infected children voiced outrage at the pardons. [AP]
Saturday, 28 July, 2007:
Libya had sent no official protest to the European Commission (EC) , related to the pardon of the six Bulgarian medics, who returned home on July 24 2007, the office of European external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said. The EC also lacked any official information on Libya’s intention to break off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria or to call on the Arab states to freeze its relations with Bulgaria. Libyan newspaper Libya Today reported of such intentions on July 27. EC denied comments on the reports. [Sofia Echo]

Friday, 27 July, 2007:
Washington is seeking closer ties with Libya now that the Bulgarian medics case is resolved, U.S. officials said. "Relations are on a fundamentally different trajectory now," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. But several experts said the road ahead could be bumpy, pointing to the unpredictable nature of Qadhafi and reluctance by some in the U.S. Congress to commit to closer ties until final compensation issues are resolved involving U.S. victims of Libyan attacks in the 1980s. "The erratic nature of the Libyan regime is a fundamental problem. If he (Qadhafi) gets up on the wrong side of the bed that will be detrimental to the relationship," said Ned Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel. [Reuters]
Friday, 27 July, 2007:
Libya has accused Bulgaria of violating an agreement between the two countries by pardoning six medics convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV. Libya's protest came a day after the HIV victims' families condemned Bulgaria's "recklessness" and called on Tripoli to cut ties with Sofia and deport Bulgarian nationals. They also demanded the medics be re-arrested by Interpol. "The pardon granted to the medics by the Bulgarian authorities is a clear violation of the agreement reached on July 23," said an official in Tripoli. [Al-Jazeera]
Friday, 27 July, 2007:
The U.S. supports France's plans to build a reactor in Libya on condition that it is not at risk of proliferation, the State Department said. "We support the peaceful use of nuclear energy as an alternative to hydrocarbons. But you have to do it in such a way that you are not at risk of proliferation," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of France's nuclear deal with Libya. "I expect ... that the French government would pay full attention to making sure that any safeguard will be implemented in any sort of deal," he said. [Xinhua]

Thursday, 26 July, 2007:
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday welcomed Libya's release of six jailed foreign medics, but said torture and other rights abuses in Libya remained a cause of deep concern. New York-based Human Rights Watch said that while the release represented a "welcome end to a long miscarriage of justice", the int'l community should not overlook rights abuses in its pursuit of improved diplomatic ties. The rights group's Middle East and North Africa director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said: "We support Libya's improving ties with the int'l community, but not at the expense of human rights. "The release of the six medics is a welcome step, but others remain in prison after torture and unfair trials, including political prisoners." [AFP]
Thursday, 26 July, 2007:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she hopes to travel soon to Libya for a trip that would mark full U.S. diplomatic acceptance for the North African country after decades of pariah status.
Rice said she had not set any dates for the visit, which comes after Libya's release this week of six foreign medical workers who had been imprisoned there for more than eight years. She said Libya had taken great strides to reintegrate itself into the international community. "I sincerely hope that I will be able to visit there soon," Rice said in an interview with Radio Sawa, a U.S.-funded Arabic-language broadcaster. [AP]
Thursday, 26 July, 2007:
France and Libya on Wednesday signed memo of understanding on the construction of a nuclear reactor for water desalination. "The objective is to cooperate so as to work on the installation in Libya of a nuclear reactor to supply drinking water from desalinated sea water," an aide to Sarkozy told Reuters. This announcement came shortly after Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham said the two sides were to sign a military-industrial accord and an agreement on civilian nuclear energy. Earlier, French President Nicolas Sarkozy held talks with Libyan leader Qadhafi. Sarkozy described his brief visit to Libya as a "political trip" to help Tripoli's reintegration into the international community. [Al-Bawaba]
Thursday, 26 July, 2007:
Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi has thanked the Qatar Emir Hamad bin Khalifa for helping to mediate a deal that led to the release of six foreign medics convicted of infecting children with HIV, Libya's state-run Jana news agency reported. Qatar News Agency also said that the Emir has received a call from Qadhafi. Qadhafi phoned the Emir and “thanked him for the role he played in the efforts made by France to secure an agreement with the Qadhafi Foundation ... and the European Commission,” Jana said. [The Peninsula]

Wednesday, 25 July, 2007:
At a time when the US is wrestling with an insurgency in Iraq and tensions with Iran, America's relations with Libya stand out as a diplomatic success story. Libya, a nation once accused of sponsoring international terrorism and maintaining a secret weapons program, has rejoined the international fold. It now enjoys full - if not quite chummy - relations with the US. "If diplomats wrote fairy tales, this would probably be one," says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus. Still others say the US was premature in "rewarding" Libya with full diplomatic ties, while Qadhafi's human-rights record remains poor. These critics see America's rapprochement with Libya not as a fairy tale but a nightmare - proof, they say, that the US is not sincerely interested in promoting democracy in the Middle East. [NPR]
Wednesday, 25 July, 2007:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy travels to Libya on Wednesday to try to smooth the country's reintegration with the West and further French interests in the oil-rich nation. Libya on Tuesday freed six foreign medics convicted of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV, after agreeing a partnership deal with the EU. They flew home on a French plane accompanied by Sarkozy's wife and their release cleared the way for the president's visit. Sarkozy said he wanted to help Libya return to the "concert of nations". But he will also seek to pursue business interests in Libya and widen French diplomatic influence in Africa. [Reuters]
Wednesday, 25 July, 2007:
Libya and the EU have said their ties will improve following the release of six Bulgarian medics. The six had been imprisoned for deliberately infecting children with HIV. They were released on Tuesday following years of negotiation. All six were pardoned on their arrival in Sofia by Bulgarian President Parvanov. Europe and the U.S. had made it clear to Libya that resolving the medics situation was the key to improving ties. [BBC]

Tuesday, 24 July, 2007:
Six foreign medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV were freed on Tuesday after a "full partnership" deal between Tripoli and the EU ended their eight-year ordeal. Their return to Bulgaria ends what Libya's critics called a human rights scandal and lifts a barrier to attempts by the long-isolated state to complete a process of normalising ties with the West. Bulgarian President Parvanov pardoned the five nurses and a Palestinian doctor who recently took Bulgarian citizenship after their arrival in Sofia on a French jet. [Reuters]
Tuesday, 24 July, 2007:
Libya has asked for normalized relations with the EU in talks over releasing six foreign medics jailed for infecting hundreds of children with HIV, an official source in Libya said on Monday. France's first lady and a top European Commission official flew to Libya on Sunday to try to secure the release to Bulgaria of the six medics. Libya requested a complete normalization of ties with EU states, the official said. But a French diplomat said the main obstacle was still money, not diplomatic recognition, with Libyans holding out for more foreign cash and the EU refusing to pay compensation that might suggest an admission the medics are guilty. [Reuters]
Tuesday, 24 July, 2007:
Moroccan FAR of Rabat soccer team on Saturday evening scored a late goal to win the Ittihad of Libya and secure its first three points in the African Champions League (group A). Striker Jaouad Ouaddouch sent a long-range rocket into the Libyan nets in the last minute of the game. The Libyans did not accept the referee's decision claiming an offside, which set off a 10-minute fracas near the end of the match. [MAP]

Monday, 23 July, 2007:
Libya has provided a pro-Syrian Palestinian Guerrilla group with financial backing to destabilize Lebanon, and Beirut authorities responded by asking French President Sarkozy to Pressure Qadhafi into aborting the scheme. Sarkozy is to visit Libya in the next few days. According to credible information received by Naharnet, the Lebanese request was made through diplomatic channels following confirmed reports of recent meetings between Qadhafi and leader of the pro-Syrian Palestinian group which is active in Lebanon. [NaharNet]
Monday, 23 July, 2007:
French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy was in Tripoli Sunday with a senior EU official to help win speedy release from prison of six Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. The six medics are serving a life term on charges of deliberately injecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV. They deny the charge. This was Mrs. Sarkozy's second visit to Libya this month. She was joined Sunday by EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. No details of their visit have been announced. But a European Commission statement says it hopes what it calls a long and painful situation can be resolved in a humanitarian spirit. [VOA]
Monday, 23 July, 2007:
The relatives of the five Bulgarian nurses, jailed in Libya, demanded that they should get compensations from the Libyan country. They made clear their demands on Sunday in the live broadcast of Darik Radio's Propaganda. "We do not engage in saying a specific sum, but in all cases the Bulgarian nurses and their families should be indemnified," one of the relatives said. The compensations must be commensurable with the ones the families of the HIV infected children received from Bulgaria, the relatives demanded uncompromisingly. [SNA]

Sunday, 22 July, 2007:
Bulgarian prosecution officials have sent all the documents required for a request for a convict transfer in terms of the judicial co-operation agreement between Libya and Bulgaria, Foreign Minister spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev said. The agreement could allow the transfer from Libya to Bulgaria of the six Bulgarian medics. The medics were initially sentenced to death, but on July 17 Libya’s supreme judicial council commuted the verdicts to life imprisonment after the families of the children were given a financial settlement. [Sofia Echo]
Sunday, 22 July, 2007:
Bulgaria's foreign minister announced that the compensation package that led to reprieving the six medics from a death sentence in Libya came from the international HIV fund. "The payouts, handed out to the families are from the int'l fund," Ivaylo Kalfin told Darik radio. "The Bulgarian tax payers have nothing to worry about," he added, referring to speculations that Bulgaria could forgive Libya some Soviet-era debt. Earlier in the week Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External Relations, surprisingly announced that Libya itself handed out compensations for the families that led to lifting the medics death verdicts. [SNA]
Sunday, 22 July, 2007:
Iran and Libya plan a joint commission on economy and tourism in keeping with a memo of understanding signed earlier. Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) announced the commission will be held on July 23-27 in Tripoli. The Iranian delegation will discuss plans to put into effect the objectives of the MoU. [Press TV]

Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
A Tripoli court yesterday sentenced three men to death for the May 2005 murder of journalist Daif al-Ghazal (photo) of the online Libya Al Youm newspaper. Al-Ghazal’s brother told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the court sentenced them to be executed by firing-squad. The authorities have released no information about the trial or the motives of the three murderers. Ghazal’s body was found in Benghazi on 21 May 2005, ten days after his family reported his disappearance. [RSF]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
The son of the Libyan leader Qadhafi expects the six foreign medics to leave Libya in a few days, informed DPA. The agency cites an interview with Saif al-Islam in today's edition of the Arab newspaper “Al hayat”. “The medics will leave Libya immediately after the details around the extradition agreement between Libya and Bulgaria are cleared out”, says the newspaper. Saif al-Islam expressed hope that the five nurses and the doctor, who received Bulgarian citizenship would be able to leave Libya next Wednesday at the latest, when the French president Sarkozy is expected to visit the country, DPA reported. [News.Bg]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
The European Union held out the prospect on Friday of a quick boost to relations with Libya if the fate of six jailed foreign medics is resolved in a satisfactory way. The 27-nation EU is asking for the medics to be sent back to Sofia, after Libya commuted the sentences from death to life imprisonment. "If this process ends where we want it to end, then a reinforcement of relations with Libya is very much a possibility," a senior EU presidency diplomat said. The Portuguese diplomat said the EU would look to raise its relations with Libya to the same level as that with other North African states, covering trade, economic assistance, migration, cultural and political relations. "That could happen rapidly," he said. [Reuters]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
The government of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation has signed a deal to swap a stake in the country's top pharmaceuticals firm, Bosnalijek, for its $12.9 million debt to Libya, it said in a statement on Friday.
The government, which holds a total 29.8 percent of Bosnalijek, did not specify the size of the stake that was swapped. The government and Libya had earlier agreed that it should correspond to 9.4 percent of the company, but officials could not immediately confirm this figure was in the signed deal. According to the agreement Libya cannot sell its stake in the company for five years, the government statement added.
[Reuters]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
After the homecoming of the six medics who were sentenced to life imprisonment for deliberate HIV infection, the appointment of a US ambassador to Libya could be discussed, US ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle said. Though the US restored its embassy in Libya one year ago, no ambassador has yet assumed a post in Libya, he said as quoted by Bulgarian news agency BTA. Beyrle also said that the outcome of the medics’ case depended on Bulgaria’s Justice Ministry employees and their Libyan counterparts. The US was aware that everything that had to be done for the return of the medics is being done. [Sofia Echo]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
BNP Paribas SA won a bid for the privatization of Libya's Sahara Bank, a move that allows the French bank to strengthen its business in the fast-growing Libyan market. In a statement, BNP Paribas said it will pay €145 million, or about $200 million, to buy a 19% stake in the Bank from the Libyan government and gain operating control of the company, which has about a fifth of Libya's retail- and corporate-banking business. Under terms of the deal, BNP Paribas will have the option of raising its stake to 51% in three to five years. [WSJ]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
British Foreign Minister Dr Kim Howells will visit Libya on July 25-26, to meet senior Libyan ministers and members of the administration to discuss regional and bilateral issues. Dr Howells said in a statement that he last visited Libya in June 2006. Libya continues to transform itself and the UK believes that it is right that it builds on this, the minister added. Dr Howells stressed the importance of advancing the relationship in the context of Libya's new relations with the wider international community. "I will also follow up on issues discussed by Tony Blair when he visited Libya as Prime Minister last May," he said. [KUNA]
Saturday, 21 July, 2007:
Morocco's FAR Rabat desperately need a win against Al Ittihad of Libya in Group A of the Champions League to stand any chance of progressing to the semi finals. The home side lost both their opening matches and must win Saturday's match in Rabat. The Libyans are hoping to continue their dream start to the group stage after bagging four points in two matches so far. Al Ittihad share the lead in Group A with Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel. [BBC]

Friday, 20 July, 2007:
Bulgaria has made an official request to Libya for the repatriation of five Bulgarian medical workers who remain in Libya after their death sentences were commuted to life in prison. The request is based on a 1984 prisoner exchange agreement between Sofia and Tripoli. Bulgaria says the agreement would allow the medical workers to serve the rest of their sentences in Bulgaria. Libya's High Judicial Council on Tuesday commuted the original death sentences to life in prison after families of the children each received about $1 million in compensation. [VOA]

Thursday, 19 July, 2007:
A Libyan court yesterday acquitted five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor of defamation, one day after they were reprieved from a death sentence. They were charged with defamation last month by a senior police officer. Meanwhile, Libya said yesterday that the ball was in Europe's court over the fate of the six, who are waiting to return home after eight years behind bars. Libya's highest judicial body on Tuesday commuted the medics' death sentences to life in prison after a multi-million dollar compensation deal was hammered out with victims' families. But Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahaman Shalgham said the case was "not closed" and that Tripoli was still awaiting guarantees regarding the treatment of the infected children. "The ball is in the court of Bulgaria and the EU," he said. [AFP]
Thursday, 19 July, 2007:
European Union External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner spoke by telephone with Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi on Wednesday, the Libyan state news agency Jana said. Ferrero-Waldner, who has called on Libya to transfer six foreign medics convicted of deliberately infecting children with the HIV virus to Bulgaria, said the bloc was eager to strengthen its links with Tripoli, citing Libya's influence in North Africa and on the African continent, Jana reported. Jana did not say whether the two had discussed the fate of the medics, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor. Libya on Tuesday commuted death sentences on the six, raising hopes they would soon be freed after eight years in jail. [Reuters]
Thursday, 19 July, 2007:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy may soon visit Libya if it can help the cause of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor imprisoned there for allegedly infecting children with HIV, his office said Wednesday. On Tuesday, Libya dropped death sentences against the six, commuting their punishments to life in prison. Sarkozy, who made freeing the medical workers a campaign promise before his May election, has been keen to get involved in efforts to help them. Sarkozy spoke by telephone Tuesday with Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, who invited him to visit, Elysee Palace spokesman David Martinon said. "The president accepted this invitation, which he will honor quickly if that could be useful in resolving the affair," Martinon said. In a surprise visit last week, French First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy met with Ghadafi, the nurses and young HIV-positive Libyans. [AP]
Thursday, 19 July, 2007:
When Libya gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003, many analysts hailed it as major foreign policy victory for the Bush administration. Since then, Libya has been taken off the list of state sponsors of terror, and there's even been talk of building a U.S. embassy in Tripoli. But a group of U.S. Army veterans says that the Libyans don't deserve their new privileges. Before Bin Laden, before Hamas, there was Qadhafi. The Libyan dictator directed deadly attacks against U.S. targets throughout the 1980s. With the rise of radical Islamic groups like al-Qaeda, secular terrorists like Qadhafi have lost influence. But for victims of Qadhafi's reign of terror two decades ago, the wounds are still very fresh. "I just dealt with the pain every day," victim Reggie Borders said. Borders served as a U.S. Army squad leader in Berlin. On the night of April 5, 1986, he and other U.S. servicemen and women were relaxing at Berlin's Labelle discotheque when a bomb tore through the club. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 90 more wounded. Reggie's eardrum was ruptured, and several of his vertebrae were dislocated. [CBN]

Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
More than half of the 426 Libyan families of children with HIV had already cashed in compensation money in a deal that would pave the way for the release of six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting the children, a spokesman for the families said on Tuesday. "More than half of the families had received the money and the remaining families would got the payout money within the next few hours," Idriss Lagha told Reuters. [Reuters]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
The death sentences for five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV have been commuted to life in prison, Libya's foreign minister said Tuesday.
The ruling came after the families of the children each received $1 million and agreed to drop their demand for the execution of the medics. Libya remains under intense international pressure to free the medical workers, and Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said Tripoli was willing to consider the medics' deportation to Bulgaria. He said the negotiations would take place within ``the legal framework and political context'' between the two countries. ``In return (for a transfer), improving the conditions of the infected children and their families should be taken into account,'' he told The Associated Press.
[AP]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
The President of the African Development Bank Group (ADB) will be on a two-day official visit to Tripoli, Libya, starting 15 July 2007. During this visit, the first by an ADB President for fifteen years, Mr.Kaberuka will have a series of discussions with the country's highest authorities. The African Development Bank and Libya are key movers in African integration and the social and economic development of the continent. ADB's share ownership comprises 53 African countries, including Libya, and 24 regional countries (America, Asia, Europe). With a Gross Domestic Product of some 35 billion US dollars in 2005. [ADB]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
Austria's Christ Water Technology Group AG (CWT) said it has launched a joint venture with Libya's El Zulal water to address the growing need for water purification treatment in the North African country.
The El Zulal Water Technology Joint Co. (EL Zulal) will be registered in Libya and located in Tripoli, and will offer turnkey water treatment technologies for industrial customers, municipalities and petrochemical industries, CWT said in a statement. 'The Christ Libyan joint venture puts us into a unique position to participate in the high volume of municipal, power and petrochemical projects in Libya, with significant potential for further expansion in North Africa,' said CWT chief executive Karl Michael Millauer. [AFX]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
Al-Akhbar reported that a Mauritanian detainee was extradited from Libya to Algeria after he had been jailed in Libya for a year. The detainee Mohamed Fal Ouled Mohamed Ab is prosecuted in court on charges of terrorism. He escaped from Mauritania 18 months ago fearing of prosecutions, said the Mauritanian agency citing sources from the detainee’s family. After being arrested by the Malian authorities, he was deported to Libya, a year ago where he was locked in prison for having ties with terrorist groups. [Al-Shurouq]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
The United States said on Tuesday a ruling by Libya's highest judicial body to commute the death sentences against five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to life in prison was a positive development and urged Tripoli to free them. "It is a positive step forward but not an end to the ordeal," said senior State Department official David Welch. "We are encouraged at the commutation of the death sentences and we hope they will result in a way to let the medics return home," he told Reuters. In a case that has soured relations between Libya and the United States, Libya's High Judicial Council lifted the death sentences against the six foreign medics convicted of deliberately infecting children with HIV.
[Reuters]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
"As the only international airline operating from Benghazi, Air Malta is pleased to offer a unique service to UK passengers wishing to fly to this fascinating region. At just one hour and 20 minutes flight time from Malta to Benghazi and one hour to Tripoli, Malta makes the ideal connection point," said Leslie Muscat of Air Malta. The route is in addition to Air Malta's existing daily flights to historic Libyan capital, Tripoli, which run from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airports. [TravelBite]
Wednesday, 18 July, 2007:
Lloyd's Register EMEA has recently secured a number of important oil and gas contracts in Libya. Waha Oil Company has awarded a two-year contract to develop and implement a reliability-based mechanical integrity (RBMI) program for its 22 onshore oil fields in the Libyan Desert. This project will be implemented using Lloyd's Capstone's RBMI software and will be the first collaboration between EMEA and Capstone on an upstream development. Eni Oil Company renewed its verification and certification contract for a further three years. Co-operation with Eni Oil stretches back more than 20 years and covers the two Bouri platforms and the Sloug floating storage unit (FSU), located about 110 km north of Tripoli. In addition to the main contract, Lloyd's Register EMEA has won significant additional work to carry out life extension studies on the Sloug FSU and to conduct lifting equipment examination in the Bouri field.
[African Path]

Tuesday, 17 July, 2007:
Libya's top legal body on Monday postponed a decision on whether to confirm or annul death sentences on six foreign medics convicted of infecting children with the Aids virus, possibly the final stage in a case that has dragged on for eight years. The High Judicial Council (HJC) would meet again on Tuesday. The body met a day after families of the 438 Libyan children were said to have accepted compensation totalling as much as $460 million. [IOL]
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007:
The UN and the African Union invited Darfur rebel factions that did not sign a 2006 peace deal with the Sudanese government to attend talks in Tanzania next month, the two bodies said on Monday. Envoys of the UN, African Union, European Union, Arab League and government representatives from 14 countries including the United States, China, Russia, Libya and Egypt wrapped up a two-day meeting on Darfur in Tripoli on Monday. [Reuters]
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007:
Uganda may have lost as much as $16 million in a debt-for-equity swap with Libya in 2005 because of undervaluation of the National Housing and Construction Company (NHCC), The East-African has learnt.
The deal involved swapping 49 per cent of NHCC’s equity, valued at about $20.3 million by Uganda’s Finance Ministry as part-settlement of an $88 million loan that the country borrowed from Libya in 1989.
A similar debt-for-equity swap between the two countries in April gave the Libyans a controlling stake in Uganda Telecom. [TheEastAfrican]
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007:
The civil society coordination in Niger has denounced the complicity between Libya and French company AREVA in the conflict between authorities in Niamey and the Nigeriens' Movement for Justice (MNJ), a new front of the Tuareg rebels active in northern Niger. [AREVA is exploiting uranium in northern Niger]. "We denounce loud and clear the complicity of some countries like Qadhafi's Libya and other foreign interest groups like AREVA with a macabre view to destabilising our country in order to prevent any prospect and extraction of our mining resources in the area," the Coordination said in a weekend statement. [Afriquenligne]
Tuesday, 17 July, 2007:
Libyan petroleum firm, Tamoil, is set to become the second biggest shareholder in Kenya’s oil refining business following the decision by the company’s board to have it buy out international oil marketers not interested in the refinery’s upgrade. The Libyan firm had emerged as front-runner to be the new entrant in the Sh22 billion project. Justus Kageenu, the KPRL chairman, said the oil majors had agreed to reduce their interest in the refinery should they fail to take up the rights in the ongoing search for capital for the upgrade. [Business Daily]

Monday, 16 July, 2007:
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to die for infecting hundreds of children with HIV may know this week whether they are to go free. Libya's Supreme Court last week upheld the death sentences, placing their fate back in the hands of the government's High Judicial Council (HJC), which is controlled by the government and has the power to commute sentences or issue pardons. With the Council due to meet on Monday, EU governments are hopeful the six will be set free after hectic negotiations. Libyan officials say the Council could take several sessions to reach a final decision and will only agree to the release of the nurses if a settlement had been reached in the talks between the families and the EU. "The Council will take into consideration several factors like compensation, the age and the time spent by the medics in jail," Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgam told reporters.
[Reuters]
Monday, 16 July, 2007:
Croatia said yesterday it had received no official demand to contribute to a reported European compensation package for the families of Libyan children infected with the AIDS virus. Media reports have suggested that European Union countries may offer damages to help save from the death penalty five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting 438 Libyan children with HIV. The French Le Figaro daily reported on Saturday that some EU countries including Croatia could "erase Libya's debt to them to show their goodwill and help advance this case." "The Foreign Ministry did not receive any official initiative over the issue," ministry spokesman Zeljko Belaj told the state-run HINA news agency.
[AFP]
Monday, 16 July, 2007:
The relatives of HIV-infected children formally dropped on Sunday their demands for execution of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who holds a Bulgarian passport. The group representing the families and the medics reached a financial settlement out of court, which would pay the relatives of each child US$ 1 million in compensation. The six medics have been detained since 1999 on charges of deliberately infecting the children with HIV and were sentenced to death in 2004. Following an appeal and a re-trial, they were sentenced to death for a second time last year. After reaching agreement, the medics signed the paperwork petitioning for their pardon, although it has been worded so as not to imply they were guilty, Darik News reported. Libya's Supreme Judiciary Council is expected to hear their appeal on Monday. [SNA]

Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
Eastern European countries are processing a deal to compensate the families of 400 Libyan children infected with the AIDS virus, the head of the victims' families association said Saturday.
"The final settlement is pending executive steps being taken, including transferring the money to the Benghazi Int'l Fund," Idriss Lagha, the head of the Association for the Families of HIV-Infected Children, told AP. The remission of Libyan debt to Bulgaria, Slovakia and other eastern European nations would provide for the compensation money, Lagha said. Officials from Bulgaria and other nations reportedly involved in the deal all denied they were sending cash to the families. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin reiterated Friday that Bulgaria would not pay compensations because that would imply the medics were guilty. [AP]
Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on a death row in Libya signed Saturday a pardon request, to be submitted to the country's High Judicial Council (HJC). It was not immediately clear whether the medics have signed a second document to guarantee they give up pressing any demands against Libya for the eight years spent behind bars and pledge they will not pursue sanctions on Libya by int'l organizations. The two documents, along with a financial settlement between Libyan officials and the group representing families of the children, should be submitted to the HJC. Libya's Supreme Court confirmed July 11 the verdicts of the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV. [SNA]
Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said officials from the Red Sea state would attend a meeting in Libya this weekend aimed at advancing peace talks among Darfur's rebel groups. In talks with the top U.N. envoy for Darfur, Jan Eliasson, Eritrea's leader said more must be done to resolve a four-year-old crisis in the western Sudanese region. The U.N. said the meeting in the Libyan capital Tripoli was scheduled for July 15-16 and would include regional and international envoys discussing the shape of new talks. Int'l experts estimate that some 200,000 people have died in four years of rape, killing and disease in Darfur. The U.S. has called the violence genocide, but Khartoum rejects that term and puts the death toll at 9,000. [Reuters]
Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
Sudan's security services said that Libya made them aware of a planned coup attempt led by an opposition leader. Sudanese security forces arrested opposition party leader Mubarak al-Fadil chairman of Umma Party (Reform and Renewal) earlier today. Al-Fadil’s party issued a statement today recieved by Sudan Tribune saying that a group of twelve men stormed his residence during the early morning hours and "brutally assaulting members of his household". Security services said that Al-Fadil was recruiting people from Kordofan and Blue Nile area to carry out attacks in Khartoum. They added that Al-Fadil sought financial support from some reigional organizations and Libya. The latter notified Khartoum of the contacts. [ST]
Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
The Czech Foreign Ministry has not confirmed allegations by the French daily Le Figaro today that the Czech and Slovak republics and other states should pay 290 million euros to the families of some 400 Libyan children whom Bulgarian nurses allegedly infected with HIV. Le Figaro refers in its report to to Seif al Islam, son of Libyan leader Qadhafi, who heads the Qadhafi Foundation that negotiated an agreement with the families of the ill children. Seif al Islam said the compensation will be financed from international contributions in the form of debt payments. The countries concerned are Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia and the Czech Republic, he said. Seif al Islam said the family of every infected child should get 730,000 euros. CTK has found out that Libya owed the Czech Republic about 300 million dollars as from May 2002. According to last March's report by the Czech Finance Ministry the level of the Libyan debt is secret. [CTK]
Sunday, 15 July, 2007:
The families of 438 children infected with the AIDS virus in Libya have accepted one million dollars in compensation each, opening the way for six accused foreign medics to escape death row, a source close to the case said Saturday. "The families have apparently accepted the principal of one million dollars (726,000 euros) in compensation (per family)," the source told AFP. The spokesman for the children's families, Idriss Lagha, repeated Thursday that they were open to a settlement that would see the medics freed, in accordance, he said, with the Islamic principles of forgiveness and clemency. This "deal also opens the way to the possibility that the death sentence will be commuted to a life prison term that could be served in Bulgaria," one of the lawyers for the families, Frenchman Emmanuel Altit, said Saturday. The source close to the case meanwhile said the more than 400-million-dollar deal "does not mean (the families) will receive any money in the end." Some EU countries like Croatia and the Czech Republic could "erase Libya's debt to them to show their goodwill and help advance this case," she said. [AFP]

Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
The Lockerbie bomber has not been excluded from a possible deal on prisoner transfers between the UK and Libya, according to Jack Straw. The UK justice secretary said the fate of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was a "matter for discussion" with the Scottish Executive. A row broke out after Tony Blair and Col. Qadhafi signed a memo of understanding on prisoner transfer. Downing Street said at the time that the agreement did not cover Megrahi. However, Mr Straw has now made clear that Megrahi's transfer has not been explicitly ruled out. [BBC]
Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
France kept European partners in the dark about a trip by President Sarkozy's wife Cecilia to Libya to visit Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV, an EU source said. The EU Commission has been patiently negotiating with Tripoli for years to win the release of the five nurses and a Palestinian doctor, whose death sentences were confirmed by the Libyan Supreme Court this week. EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed exasperation at what some saw as a French attempt to grab credit at the last minute for their possible release, without coordinating with other EU partners. [Reuters]
Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
Former Tunisian club Esperance coach Fawzi Benzarti has been appointed as coach of Libya's national team. He signed a three-year contract and a key goal will be to lead Libya to the 2010 World Cup finals. Benzarti was quoted on BBC as saying: “My main task is to guide Libya reach the finals of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010." But, there is a possibility that he can lead the country to the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana. Libya are just a point away from Group 10 leaders DR Congo and will play against the latter in September. [Goal]
Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
Moroccan police have detained 15 radical Islamists on suspicions of plotting terror attacks in Morocco, the justice minister said. "Arrests had been made, according to the information from the Kingdom's public prosecutor. Fifteen detainees are in custody, three of them had been extradited by Libya," Ahmed Bouzouba told Assabah newspaper in an interview published on Friday. "These people were arrested as they prepared terrorist attacks," he added, without giving details because of what he called the secrecy of the ongoing investigation. [Reuters]
Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
The French government is "reasonably optimistic" that the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV can be saved, an aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said July 13. The announcement came after the French president's wife visited Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and the condemned medical personnel and the families of the infected children. [Stratfor]
Saturday, 14 July, 2007:
The United States urged Libya on Wednesday to immediately allow six foreign medics to return home after the country's Supreme Court upheld death sentences against them for infecting children with HIV. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack held out hope that Libya's government-controlled High Judicial Council, which is set to review the case on Monday, would free the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor. "The next step here is for these people to be returned home," McCormack told reporters when asked about the Libyan court's decision on Wednesday to uphold the death sentences against the six. [Reuters]

Friday, 13 July, 2007:
Four U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday they would block the confirmation of President Bush's nominee to be ambassador to Libya until Tripoli makes good on its promise to fully compensate relatives of victims of terrorist attacks in the 1980s. Bush moved on Wednesday to fill the post that has been vacant for nearly 35 years, nominating Gene Cretz, currently deputy chief at the U.S. Embassy in Israel, to be U.S. ambassador to Libya. The Senate Democrats, led by Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, said no U.S. ambassador should set foot in Tripoli until Libya fulfilled the financial commitments made to the victims' families. [Reuters]
Friday, 13 July, 2007:
French First Lady Cecilia Sarkozy on Thursday visited five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya for allegedly infecting hundreds of children with HIV, France's president said. Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters that on her trip his wife was also seeing Libyan leader Col. Moammar al-Qadhafi and meeting children infected with HIV. Libya's official news agency Jana said the meeting with Qadhafi had taken place but gave no details. [IHT]
Friday, 13 July, 2007:
In Malta, a father sued the mother of his four year old daughter for having fled to Libya with the child in order to go and live with her Libyan father. The father, Noel Calleja, in fact said that he had previously presented a petition in court in order to stop somebody from leaving the island with his daughter.
The mother, Josephine Wadi, had been assigned the custody of the girl however Calleja had presented a petition to the family court. Calleja said that the mother of his daughter had got married a few months ago and had coverted to Islam. [Di-Ve]

Thursday, 12 July, 2007:
The U.S. took another step in restoring normal diplomatic relations with Libya on Wednesday when President Bush nominated a U.S. ambassador to the once-outcast nation. The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate, where some lawmakers are pushing the administration to make Libya do more to account for past misdeeds. The White House announced that Gene Cretz, deputy chief at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, is Bush's pick for the post. [AP]
Thursday, 12 July, 2007:
Bulgaria has urged Libya to bring a swift conclusion to the case of five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting 426 Libyan children with AIDS, BTA news reported on Wednesday. "It's a pity that the decision today did not surprise us," Bulgarian President Parvanov said. Earlier in the day, Libya's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentences for the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor. "We expect and insist on a swift decision on the side of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) of Libya for the final outcome," the president added. After the ruling of the Supreme Court, the SJC will review the case on July 16. [Xinhua]
Thursday, 12 July, 2007:
Libya's Supreme Court upheld on Wednesday the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting children more than 400 children with HIV. But the verdict could still be overturned by the country's highest judicial authority, which Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said would meet on the case Monday. The Supreme Judiciary Council, headed by the minister of justice, could approve or reject the convictions, or set lighter sentences. The court has accepted the appeal in principal but rejects its content. Therefore the court decided to uphold the verdict against them. [AP]
Thursday, 12 July, 2007:
Alcatel-Lucent said it has signed a contract with Libyan Post Telecommunications & Information Technology Company to supply a nationwide fibre optic backbone network that will serve all of Libya; the contact is worth 90 mln eur. Under the terms of this contract, Alcatel-Lucent said it will deploy a fibre optic network throughout the country, linking all major cities with more than 4,400 kms of infrastructure and will serve as the backbone network for Libya's telecommunication infrastructure. [AFX]

Wednesday, 11 July, 2007:
A settlement has been reached in the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who have been sentenced to death in Libya for infecting 400 children with the AIDS virus, the spokesman for the country's Gadhafi foundation said Tuesday. Foundation spokesman Salah Abdessalem did not say how the deal reached with families of the HIV-infected children would affect the case against the six foreign medical workers. The announcement came a day before Libya's Supreme Court was to rule on an appeal of their sentence, which caused an international outcry and a diplomatic crisis with Bulgaria and the European Union. "A settlement has been reached by the Qadhafi foundation and the League of the Libyan Children Infected with AIDS," Abdessalam said, referring to the group representing families of infected children. "This settlement is acceptable to all parties and will end the crisis," he told The Associated Press. [AP]
Wednesday, 11 July, 2007:
U.S. President George W. Bush has written Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi saying Washington wants to strengthen ties with Libya, Libyan news agency Jana reported. The news agency said Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Townsend, handed Gaddafi the letter when she met him in Tripoli late on Monday.
"We have achieved a great deal since we restored relations between the United States and Libya. I believe our both peoples have benefited from the development of these relations," Jana quoted Bush as saying in the letter. Jana said Bush affirmed in his letter the willingness of United States to develop and reinforce its relations with Libya. The United States resumed diplomatic relations with Libya, which had been severed for 24 years, in June 2004 after Libya announced the previous December it was abandoning its weapons of mass destruction programmes. [Reuters]
Wednesday, 11 July, 2007:
Washington on Tuesday hailed reports that Libya had struck a compensation deal with victims that could resolve a politically charged case involving six foreign medics now on death row for allegedly infecting children with AIDS. "We have seen the reports but we cannot confirm that any agreement has been reached," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "Certainly we would welcome anything that would further a resolution of this long-standing issue," he said. "If this arrangement is what people think it is, I think that it is probably a positive sign that it is moving in that direction," Casey said, recalling that the administration's position has held that the medics should be released. Libya's Kadhafi Foundation, run by leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, said it had reached a compensation deal which would resolve the case. Details, however, were not immediately announced. [AFP]
Wednesday, 11 July, 2007:
A Berlin-based group of architects Tuesday said that it has been awarded a contract to design a sprawling new headquarters for the Libyan government in Tripoli. The firm Leon Wohlhage Wernik said that the government buildings will be spread out over 230 hectares (568 acres) and must be partially completed by 2009 to mark the 40th anniversary of Qadhafi taking power. The project will only be fully completed in 2017, however, said Anneke Holz, a spokeswoman for the firm. It will cost between €2.5 billion and €3 billion ($3.4 billion and $4.1 billion). The complex has been compared by the German press to the futuristic, utopian architectural style employed in the Brazilian capital Brasilia in the 1950s by German architect Oscar Niemeyer. It will be situated between Tripoli's int'l airport and the historical center and will also include a mosque, a towering five-star hotel, and a conference center. [METimes]

Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
About 50 years after Ghana’s first president, Nkrumah proposed political unity for Africa, a similar plan brought to the front burner by Libyan strongman Qadhafi failed to convince African leaders at the African Summit in Ghana. The circumstances of the ninth meeting of the leaders under the umbrella of the new union appeared novel and yet so familiar. Its novelty drives from the fact that it was the first time African leaders would be meeting without the usual backdrop of wars and conflicts dominating the agenda. However, there was a familiar ring to the main agenda of the summit; a proposed United States of Africa, making its way back to the front burner, about half a century after the idea was first tabled. [Business Day]
Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
Libya has invited international companies to bid for 12 onshore and offshore gas drilling permits as part of its drive to boost gas exports. The National Oil Corp. (NOC), the state-owned oil group, said yesterday that exploration and production companies had until December 9 to apply. NOC held presentations to potential partners in Tripoli yesterday and said that it would also discuss the contractual framework and technical summaries of the exploration blocks in a similar presentation next Sunday in London. In a statement on its website, NOC said that it was offering exploration and production-sharing agreements for a number of prospective gas fields in an attempt to increase gas production and exports. [TimesOnLine]
Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
Malta’s voice in Brussels has sent a stern reprimand to the European Union, after ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana criticised member states for not rebuking Libya for its failure over rescue immigrants it was legally bound to save. In a letter to his German counterpart Wilhelm Schoenfelder dated 8 June, Malta’s permanent representative to the EU lamented that all guns had been turned on Malta, while “not one single voice has called on the country”, referring to Libya, “to honour its obligations”. He described as “unacceptable” and “incorrect” statements made by Spain and Commissions Vice-President Franco Frattini, and in no unclear terms expressed Malta’s “profound disappointment at the ill-judged way” at the criticism levelled against it by the Commission and member states. [MaltaToDay]
Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
Libyan-Egyptian talks were held on Sunday morning between Libya and Egypt. The talks dealt initially with the sector of labor and were chaired by the Libyan Secretary of the General People's Committee for Manpower, Training, and the Egyptian Employment and Minister of Manpower and Immigration. The two sides discussed the means to develop cooperation relations between the two countries in labor and employment sector, reaffirming the need to establish a relation between the employer and the employee through contracting process to ensure the rights of the two sides. The two sides, also, followed up the execution of deals signed between the General People's Committee for Manpower Training, and Employment and Egyptian Ministry of Manpower and Immigration concerning the terms of using manpower. [Al-Arab]
Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
New 1,000 signs were gathered in the frames of the ‘Bring them back home' campaign in support of the Bulgarian medics in Libya. The signs were collected in Holland. The actions, in the Holland campaign, are coordinated by the Dutch Association of Pediatric Nurses (V&VN) and Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG). Today in the Bulgarian Embassy received 1,000 Dutch signs by medics in support of the 6 Bulgarians. [News.BG]
Tuesday, 10 July, 2007:
Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's minister for foreign affairs, and the delegation accompanying him, arrived in Tripoli yesterday on an official visit to Libya. During his visit, Alawi will hold talks with senior Libyan officials within the context of the continuous coordination and consultation in order to promote relations between Oman and Libya in various spheres. On his arrival at Meatiqah Intl Airport, Alawi was received by the secretary of foreign affairs and the director of Arab Administration. [Times Of Oman]

Monday, 9 July, 2007:
The mother of a four-year-old girl allegedly kidnapped and being held in Libya has written to Col. Qadhafi asking for help to find the child. Sarah Taylor, 30, from Wigan, Lancashire, UK, has been searching for her daughter for six weeks. The child was snatched and taken to Libya by her father on May 27. The child, who was 4 on May 9, has spoken briefly to her mother once since being taken away, and tearfully asked to come home. [TimesOnLine]
Monday, 9 July, 2007:
Sudan's first vice-president and the president of Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, has postponed his visit to Libya for the second time. The visit was scheduled to start on July 7. Salva Kiir talked by telephone with the Libyan African Union affairs secretary Ali Al-Tiriki and informed him that his visit would be postponed until further notice. [ST]
Monday, 9 July, 2007:
Libya arrested nearly 1 500 mostly Europe-bound illegal immigrants in June and deported an even-higher number, said the government on Sunday. The north African nation's security services caught 1 451 would-be migrants and sent another 1 622 back to their countries of origin in its campaign to eradicate illicit immigration, the national security ministry said. It did not specify the origins of those held or returned to their homelands. [News24]

Sunday, 8 July, 2007:
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said on Saturday that there was no deal yet to release five Bulgarian nurses in Libya. Reports from Libya on Friday claimed a deal was within days, perhaps a matter of several days. Talks are continuing and Bulgaria is doing everything to secure the nurses' release, but no deal was struck just yet, Kalfin said. Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who has been granted Bulgarian citizenship, have been sentenced to death on charges of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV. [SNA]
Sunday, 8 July, 2007:
Vowing to take sole responsibility for destroying its chemical weapons, Libya has annulled its contract with the U.S.. The Libyan government cancelled the agreement, effective June 14, because of dissatisfaction with its provisions on liability, financing, and facility ownership. U.S. Department of State spokesperson Nancy Beck told Arms Control Today (ACT) June 18 that Libya had given notice in May that “it was exercising its option to withdraw from the contract.” Despite the contract’s abrogation, the State Department described Libya’s actions as “a model of nonproliferation.” Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which Libya acceded in May 2004, Libya is obligated to destroy its stockpile by the end of 2010. [ACT]
Sunday, 8 July, 2007:
Tunisian giants Etoile Sahel were held to a goalless home draw by Al-Ittihad of Libya in Group A game of the CAF Champions League on Saturday. Neither side was able to dominate in a dull first-half which witnessed rare opportunities from both clubs. Etoile Sahel had the upper hand in the second-period but were unable to capitalize on their few chances. Al-Ittihad and Etoile Sahel are joint leaders in their group with four points, one ahead of Algeria's JS Kabylie while Morocco's FAR Rabat remain pointless at the bottom. [FilBilad]

Saturday, 7 July, 2007:
"An agreement regarding the Bulgarian medics sentenced to death in Libya may be concluded in 2 to 3 days," The spokesman of the association of the relatives of the HIV infected children Ramadan al Fituri told Darik radio. “Some of our demands were not satisfied, and there are some other details, that must be dealt with. We are very close to agreement, but we aren't there yet ... May be in 2 to 3 days”, said Fituri. He refused to say if the association is going to insist on its demand for $10 mln compensation for each child. [BNN]

Friday, 6 July, 2007:
Zimbabwe is negotiating a US$2 billion loan with Libya to help stabilise the country's crisis-hit economy, senior government sources revealed this week. President Mugabe held meetings last month with Libyan leader Qadhafi during a three-day visit to Tripoli, where, according to senior officials, the loan, whose details remained sketchy, was discussed. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said yesterday he did not have the "full details" of the negotiations, referring questions to Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi. [Financial Gazette]

Thursday, 5 July, 2007:
A disappointed Libyan leader Qadhafi left the AU Summit in Accra, Ghana, prematurely on Tuesday night after the majority of African leaders rejected a call for the immediate creation of a United States of Africa. The leaders only agreed to set up a committee to establish a roadmap and a time frame for a union government, according to the final declaration, reached after three days of behind-closed-doors debates. They also agreed to carry out studies to identify “contents of the union government concept and its relations with national governments” and its “domains of competence and the impact of its establishment on the sovereignty of member states”. While emphasising that a United States of Africa was the AU’s ultimate goal, the leaders committed themselves to accelerate the economic integration of regional blocs. [The New Vision]
Thursday, 5 July, 2007:
Verenex Energy Inc. shares got a boost Wednesday morning, climbing nearly 8% following the company's positive update regarding its exploration program in Libya. Verenex said in a statement that Area 47 located in the North African country continues to yield excellent results. So far, two wells have been drilled and have tested light sweet crude oil at high rates, while a third is currently testing and a fourth has reached total depth and is logging. The company added that the first well flow tested at 12,500 barrels a day and the combined measured flow from the second and third well should result in comparable or higher flow rates. [CanWest]
Thursday, 5 July, 2007:
Libya is to invite international tenders for exploration of its onshore and offshore natural gas reserves in the next few days, Libya's oil supremo told AFP on Wednesday. National Oil Company president Shukri Ghanem said a dozen contracts will be allocated to foreign companies to explore 41 gas blocks in the sea and in the Sirte basin, 500 km east of Tripoli, in the central southern Murzuq basin and at Ghdamess, 700 km south of the capital. Details of the blocks, varying in size from 2,000 to 10,000 sq km will be presented to interested parties in August in Tripoli and later in London. Allocation of the blocks is expected in December. [Forbes]
Thursday, 5 July, 2007:
Libya is to host an international conference on Darfur on July 15 and 16 aimed at consolidating efforts to end violence in the western Sudanese region, the UN Mission in Khartoum said Wednesday. "The conference will be co-chaired by the UN and the African Union," UNMIS spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told reporters. The aim of the conference is to evaluate the progress of the "roadmap" on Darfur, which seeks to converge various diplomatic efforts to end the civil war there into one initiative led by the UN and the AU, Achouri said. According to a UN source in Khartoum, 13 countries have been invited to attend the conference including Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, China, France, Russia, Britain, the US, Canada, Holland and Norway. The European Union and the Arab League have also been invited. [AfriCast]

Wednesday, 4 July, 2007:
Southern and East African leaders have rejected plans to set up a pan-African government, as suggested by Libyan leader Qadhafi. Uganda's Yoweri Museveni says he backs economic integration but says Africa is too diverse for one government. Senegal, however, backed the plans and says a breakaway group could be formed. Ghana's Foreign Minister believes problems are inevitable but can be overcome as the EU has done. [ABC News]
Wednesday, 4 July, 2007:
Amnesty International (AI) called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into reports that at least two Libyan pro-democracy activists were tortured after being arrested for trying to hold a peaceful protest. Twelve people have been in prison since February, some of them charged with trying to overthrow the political system, possession of weapons and explosives for subversive activities and communication with enemy powers, AI said, quoting unnamed sources. "It appears that all were arrested and detained in view of their planned peaceful demonstration or recent criticism of the government on the Internet," the group said in a statement. It called on Libya to ensure they receive a fair trial. The hearing began on June 24, since when there has been no news of their fate. [Reuters] Click here for more details.
Wednesday, 4 July, 2007:
When our reporter Nfamara Jawneh traveled to Libya recently, he seized the opportunity to talk to some Gambians residing in the North African country. The thrust of his discourse with the Gambian community centred on an appeal to the Gambian authorities to consider opening a diplomatic mission in that country. This is not asking for too much when one considers the important role diplomatic missions play in advancing the interests of their citizens in foreign lands. We would therefore want to add our voice to our compatriots’ cry, by appealing to the Department of State to quickly look into that matter with a view to addressing some of the problems they have been reeling under owing to lack of such an important machinery. [The Point]
Wednesday, 4 July, 2007:
The Libyan Cultural Centre in Accra, Ghana, yesterday attracted a large turn out of mostly Muslims from the predominantly Islamic suburbs of Accra, to receive gifts donated by President Qadhafi who is in the country for the ongoing African summit. Some of the women, who dwarfed their male counterparts in terms of numbers, wore T-shirts with Robert Mugabe’s pictures and short solidarity messages alongside the images. This, however, attracted the ire of the organizers of the programme who queried them for coming to the place in Mugabe T-shirts. They expressed remorse for the goof because for them, the Libyan cultural centre event was an extension of the one on Mugabe to which they had been drafted to attend. [Daily Guide]

Tuesday, 3 July, 2007:
As the trial opens against 12 men detained in connection with a planned demonstration against the authorities in February 2007, Amnesty International (AI) calls on the Libyan government to open a full, impartial and independent investigation into reports that at least two of them have been subjected to torture and to ensure that they are afforded the right to a fair hearing. AI is also raising concerns that the 12 individuals have been held in incommunicado detention for prolonged periods of time since their arrests in February 2007 and that they are being punished for their peaceful political opposition. If so, AI would consider them to be prisoners of conscience and call for their immediate and unconditional release. [AI] Click here for details.
Tuesday, 3 July, 2007:
Many heads of state are advocating a moderate, step-by-step approach to continental integration at the African Union summit in Ghana's capital, Accra. The summit, which continues until Tuesday, aims to debate the possibility of forming a single African state ... But many Africans say there are many more important issues to discuss than continental unity. "I think that before having a continental government we have some problems to resolve, like [the] Darfur crisis, like a lot of issues. I think that realistically, it is not the time to discuss it, if we want to have a very efficient body," said Saidou Arji is, a Ghana-based human rights activist. Arji says other important issues to discuss include the situation in Zimbabwe. Human rights issues across the continent also are high on his agenda, including in Libya. [VOA]
Tuesday, 3 July, 2007:
Chadian rebels fighting a hit-and-run guerrilla war against President Idriss Deby said on Monday failure to clinch a deal at peace talks in Tripoli would mean a return to all-out hostilities. Libya brokered the talks to try to end an insurgency by a coalition of rebels fighting government forces in eastern Chad, a huge swathe of barren savannah also struggling to cope with a spillover of the conflict in Darfur. Makaila Nguebla, a spokesman for the rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), said talks with a government delegation had been suspended while Libyan leader Qadhafi attended an African summit in Ghana. [Reuters]
Tuesday, 3 July, 2007:
German ambassador to Bulgaria Michael Geier said that Germany was continuing talks with Qadhafi foundation on the fate of the five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for intentional HIV infection.
Libya Today quoted Geier as saying that Germany would continue working for the freedom of the nurses even after the end of the German EU presidency on July 1. At the same time Libyan law experts commented on the case of the Libyan given a prison sentence for the Lockerbie bombing. Previously Libyan authorities tried to connect the fate of the nurses to that of the Lockerbie bomber. According to the experts, the right to appeal given to the bomber, will affect positively both his case and the trial of the five nurses. [Sofia Echo]
Tuesday, 3 July, 2007:
The Libyan government feels “insulted” by reports and opinion columns carried in MaltaToday about the way Tripoli has been handling the often fatal immigrants’ exodus from its shores over the last months, even threatening to “take the proper legal actions” against this newspaper. Libyan Ambassador Saad El Shlmani wrote in a letter to the editor that the authorities of Libya would take action if MaltaToday carried “any more attacks on Libya and its leadership”. He ended his letter expressing his hope that the reply “will find its way to the pages of your newspaper” adding that “we assure you that any more attacks on Libya and its leadership will push us to take the proper legal actions which we hope we will not need to do.” [MaltaToday]

Monday, 2 July, 2007:
An African Union [AU] summit on Sunday debated the dream of Libyan leader Qadhafi for a single state stretching from the Mediterranean to the Cape, but other leaders warned of tough obstacles on the way to that goal. Qadhafi has long campaigned for a United States of Africa as the only way to address the continent's grinding poverty and myriad other problems, including the challenges of globalisation. Qadhafi ardently backs the immediate creation of a continental government, but most of his fellow leaders feel this is an unrealistic, if noble, dream that distracts from urgent crises in Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere. [Reuters]
Monday, 2 July, 2007:
Police in Sierra Leone have detained a newspaper editor over an article about gifts from Libyan leader Qadhafi after his visit to the West African country this week. Police detained Philip Neville, managing editor of the Standard Times daily newspaper, after a search of the newspaper's offices which produced evidence that may lead to charges of sedition and criminal libel, the radio said. The Standard Times led Wednesday's edition with a report that Qadhafi had detailed gifts Libya had previously given to Sierra Leone, including two shipments of rice, that the government had not made public. President Kabbah said on Tuesday the rice had been sold to raise funds for a social security unit to provide benefits to the unemployed. [Reuters]

Sunday, 1 July, 2007:
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has voiced backing for Libyan leader Qadhafi's ambitions to turn the African Union into an EU-style bloc, Libya's official JANA news agency said on Saturday. Sarkozy telephoned Qadhafi on Friday evening in the Ghanaian capital Accra where the Libyan leader is preparing for a three-day AU summit that opens on Monday. The French president said he wished Qadhafi well in his efforts to achieve African unity and develop the continent, saying they were also goals of French foreign policy, it added. It was the second telephone conversation between the two men since Sarkozy took office on May 6. [AFP]
Sunday, 1 July, 2007:
Libyan workforce ministry fixed the end of the current month as the deadline to the settlement of foreign manpower in Libya situation, which means that 10 thousand illegal resident Algerians are to be expelled. The ministry announced yesterday in a communiqué addressed to different security services and embassies nationwide that “all legal procedures in force in this regard are to be applied on every foreigner who has not yet settled his situation according to the provisions of this decision, by virtue of the employment law as well as the law ruling the entry of foreigners to Libya, in addition to the pertinent resolutions”. [Al-Khabar]
Sunday, 1 July, 2007:
Declaring himself a "soldier for Africa," Libyan leader Qadhafi called on the continent on Saturday to unite under a single government so it could compete in a globalize world. Speaking on the eve of an African Union summit in Accra, Qadhafi said AU leaders had not yet achieved the dream of unity voiced half a century ago by Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, founding father of African independence. "For Africa, the matter is to be or not to be," he told a cheering audience of students, activists and local Muslim leaders at the University of Ghana. "My vision is to wake up the African leaders to unify our continent." [Reuters]